Method of and means for indicating pressures



Feb. 22, 1944. w, B. KLEMPERER METHOD OF AND MEANS FOR INDICATING PRESSURE 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Original Filed Dec 22, 1936 11 6 bfy n .5. lf/em oerer Feb. 22, 1944. w, KLEMPERER 2,342,587

METHOD OF AND MEANS FOR INDICATING PRESSURE Original Filed Dec. 22, 1936 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 li/fydny .B. Me ear Feb. 22, 1944 w. B. KLEMPERER METHOD OF AND MEANS FOR INDICATING PRESSURE Original Filed Dec. 22, 1936 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 if we;

Feb. 22, 1944. w 5. KLEMPERER 2,342,587

METHOD OF AND MEANS FOR INDICATING PRESSURE' Original Filed Dec. 22, 1936 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Patented Feb. 22,1944

mz'rnon or .mn man's FOB INDICATING ranssunns Wolfgang B. Klemperer,

. Calif assignor to Wingfoot Corporation,

West Los Angeles,

Wil-

mington, DeL, a corporation of Delaware Continuation of application Serial No. 117.141,

- December 22,1936. This application June 9, Y

1941', Serial .No. 397.177

(Cl. B -31) 7- Claims.

The present invention relates to a means and method for determining and indicating various functional characteristics of a gas-filled cell used in airships, particularly of the rigid type. This application is a continuation of my application Serial No. 117,141 filed December 22, 1936, for Method of and means for indicating pressures.

One object of this invention is to provide'means and method for indicating the potential lift of the gas contained within a gas cell as compared with the density of the surrounding air. In other words, this means may he utilized regardless of the elevation at which the airship is flying.

Another object of this invention is to indicate the fullness of the gas cell.

Still another object of this invention is to provide means for indicating the potential lift of the gas within a cell corrected for all known physical conditions affecting the lift.

Other objects of this invention will appearhereinafter as the description thereof proceeds, the novel features, arrangements and combinations being clearly set forth in the specification and in the claims hereunto appended.

In airship operation it is of great importance to the pilot to be always informed about changes in gas conditions of all cells in the ship. For instance, he wants to know how much gas has been lost, either through leakage or through automatic valving when the airship travels near or above the pressure height, or. through change in meteorological conditions, so that he is always aware of how much potential buoyancy may have been lost. The pressure height is the altitude at which the gas has expanded to the point of occupying the entire available gas cell volume. Of course this pressure height is a relative matter and bears relation to the outside pressure and to temperature variations. If the ship is carried to a reater height by dynamic forces due to the motion of the ship, the gas in the cells is valved off. Therefore, when the ship returns to a lower level it becomes quite important to determine how much gas has been lost or valved oil;

The amount of gas actually escaped from a container is measured by the absolute weight or mass of this escaped gas rather than by any other phy-' sical observable change such as the fullness of the container or the pressure exerted upon its wall at one definite place. The reason is that volume and local pressure'are subject tofchange-by other causes than loss of gas, for instance, a change of" purity through leakage of air into. the container or a change of temperature of the gas or a change of barometric. pressure of the air. The latter may change with the weather and, aboard the airship,

also with the altitude of flight.

The present invention is based upon a complete appraisal of all thermodynamical phenomena involved there. As it implies apparatus taking cognizance of all these extraneous influences. it also furnishes knowledge of such other interesting characteristics of the container as its instantaneous fullness, the purity of the gas and the wall pressure at any point.

Such complete information is not conveyed by any component element alone. Especially, the mere provision of a manometer connected at one station of a gas cell, such as has been-the custom which measures the absolute pressure of the gas against vacuum like an aneroid barometer is. inadequate to throw any light upon-the question whether gas has escaped from the container or upon the question as to how much buoyancy or lift the gas in the container furnishes.

To throw the burden of complicated thermodynamical calculations upon the shoulders of the I pilot of the craft may preclude his obtaining the desired knowledge in time to meet an emergency, especially in case of a sudden damage to a gas cell if not immediately reported. It is therefore contended that an instrument directly indicating any loss or contamination of gas is a valuable asset.

For a tter understanding of' the invention reference will now be had to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings in which Figure l is a perspective transverse cross-sec.-

tional view, somewhat diagrammatic, of an airship provided with two liquid manometers attached to the gas cell for measuring at two levels the gas pressure against the atmosphere;

Figure 2 is aview similar to Figure 1; but with the addition of an electric remote gas level indicator;

,Figure 3 is a diagrammatic transverse crosssectional view of an airship with a differential manometer attached to a' gas -cell Figure 4 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view- 7 of an airship, somewhat diagrammatic, illustrating'difl'erent arrangements of remote indication of the gas conditions in the various gas cells;

Figu e 5 is a diagrammatic transverse crosssectional view of an airship provided with a liquid gas level indicator;

Figure 6 is a cross-sectional view of this indicator shown in Figure 5, taken along the line 6-5 of that figure.

Figure 7 is a plan view of the indicator shown in Figures and 6;

Figure 8 is a diagram indicating the gas pressure at two levels of a gas cell and with the lowest gas level deduced therefrom;

Figure 9 is a diagrammatic transverse crosssectional view of'an airship provided with two gas pressure indicators including the necessary instruments for indicating the bottom gas level, the gas volume, the gas lift, the gas loss and the gas superheat;

Figure 10 is a cross-sectional view of item H0 in Figure 9 taken along the line l0|0 of that figure.

Referring now to Figure l, the gas cell II may be of any geometrical shape, but is here assumed to be essentially cylindrical except for three recesses, [2, I3 and I4, provided, for instance, to accommodate gangways. This cell has a flexible fabric bottom part l5, which floats at a. level where the pressures of gas inside and air outside are equal. The surplus of the fabric arranges itself in a fold l6, capable of unfolding for expansion of the container as far as limited by the solid frame or shell ll. This view refers to a container for a gas lighter than air. If the gas is heavier than air the picture is simply inverted. An essential part of the present invention consists in the arrangement of two manometers'IB and i9, one in the upper part of the gas cell and the other in the lower part with a known level difierence h. The manometers may be of the liquid U-tube type as shown or of the sprung diaphragm or Bourdon type. The back. sides 20 and 2| of the manometers (i. e., the legs of the U-tubes not connected to the gas cell or the case containing the capsule or active element of an elastic mechanical pressure gauge) are open to the same atmosphere.

The diiference of head p1--pa in lbs./sq. ft. shown between the .two manometers divided by the level difference It in feet between them is exactly equal to the buoyancy of the gas in the .solute pressuresat the two levels minus the adiacent outside pressures at the. two levels. The

pressure difference of 'the air near the top and bottom of the cell has the same value in any connecting airline as in the free atmosphere, namely in accordance with the barometric pressure gradient.

One solution of this problem consists in equipping the manometers 25 and 28 (Figure 2) with (commercially available) electric remote indicating devices, for instance, by providing rheostats 21 and 28, respectively, operatively connected to each manometer and forming part of an electrical circuit containing a source of electricity '29, andan electric indicator or voltmeter 30. The rheostats 21 and 28 of the two manometers are differentially connected in the electrical circuit,

for instance, as adjacent branches in 9. Wheatstone bridge as shown in Figure 2. The rheostats may be operated mechanically, 21, as shown tween the two manometer-levels is not electricalbut pneumatical. The two pressure heads are thus brought to each other and their difierence is directly indicated by a single manometer 40 which may again be either of the liquid type as shown, or of the mechanical type having an elastic diaphragm member. Here the top manometer is shown replaced by a pressure ihansmitter 4| consisting, for instance, of a vessel 42 closed by a slack diaphragm 43 and filled with atmospheric air. The manometer 40 has, one leg connected to the transmitter 4| by a sealed tubing 45, and its other leg communicates by means of a'tubing 45 with the interior of the gas cell II at its lower portion. The diameter of the air tubing 45 is to be very small and the diaphragm 43 is made'sufficiently slack to effect the desired pressure transmission while avoiding contact with the rear wall of vessel 42 when the airship rises. Whether the transmitter 4| is really on top and the manometer on the bottom, or vice versa, is immaterial. The gauge may he graduated at 44 in units of buoyancy (lbs/cu. it). If it is desired to indicate this buoyancy at a remote station, for instance, in the control car 5|, for many gas cells, the manometers 40 can be equipped with electrical or other remote transmitting devices 52 and sensitive to the diiference between gas heads in two levels and the other sensitive to the local pressure diiierence between the gas inside and the air outside at one of the levels, preferably the lower level which is usually more accessible. The two instruments are connected to each other by any one of the devices known as ratio meters.

The latter indicates the ratio of their individual values. Its scale is graduated in terms of height of the free gas level, and since the latter for any given shape of the frame or shell II, which limits the expansion of the as cell, determines the fullness of the available space, it may also be graduated in per cent of fullness or in cubic. feet of volume.

The working theory of the combination manometei' is clearly demonstrated by the Figures 5 to 8, inclusive.

the gas in the cell ll against the air outside in-- creases from zero at the lower gas level II to its Since the pressure difference of maximum at the top at practically the same ra-' tio, the line AC between the two pressure height pi and p: is practically straight and therefore its intersection with the line BD (indicating theoutside air pressure) at the point :4: indicates thezero pressure level of the gas in the cell. Line I Y indicates the pressure gradient line for a gas of different characteristics and illustrates that the fullness of the cllis .indicated regardless of the type or condition of the gas as the upper and lower pressures are always proportional.

In Figure the combination manometer consists of avessel 8| containing liquid 82 in which the two manometers- 63 and 64 connected to the m the gas cell. a rheostat as, calibrated in conformity to the volume of the gas cell correspondume meter 98, which is a regular voltmeter pro-v gas cell ll attwo different gas levels are immersed. Floats 65 .moving in.the manometers 10 are provided with rods 88 and 81, which are swivelably mounted on the floats at 88 and on the U-shaped supports Stand III at H. The sup-' ports are carrying at both sides of the manometers longitudinally self-adjusting rods I2, which pass through a slot 13 of a floatable indicator plate 14, the outer edge of which conforms to the inside diameter of the vessel 6|. It is obvious that the position of the rods, due to the two different gas pressures, corresponds to the line AX. The intersection of the rods and of the indicator plate is identical with the point .X, or with the lowest gas level in the cell. On the indicator plate on both sides of the slot a picture I! of the gas cell is drawn and on scales 18 the fullness in per cent and the volume incublc feet, respectively, of the gas cell are marked. Thus the correct gas content in the cell can be directly read on the scales. It .must be said, however, that the ap ication of liquid manometers would not be very practical, because of the movements of the airship in flight.

Therefore, this particular arrangement should be considered mainly as a device by which the working princlplepf the combination-manometer indicator system could be explained. s

Another construction of a gas level indicator having electric remote indication more directly adapted for airships is illustrated in Figures 9 and 10, in combination with additional separate instruments, which include a gas volume indicator and a lift indicator, both electrically connected with the gas level indicator. The lift of the gas' enclosed in a cell would be constant if it always had the temperature of the air outside. If there is a temperature difference, the lift is increased 1% for each 43 .F. of increased temperature. On that account a temperature meter is combined ing to the height of the gas level, regulates the current flowing through the hand 91 to the volvlded with a scale I88, indicating the gas cell volume in cubic feet. In (other words, as the cross sectional shape of the gas cell is known, the gas volume is a direct function of the'gas level and the scale 108 is merely calibrated in terms of gas volume instead of gas level as with the scale 96. Thus the volume meter scale lllll could be combined with the gas level indicator, 95a.

The next step is to combine the result obtained on the volume meter with that of the specific lift meter 89 in the instrument llll, the main part of which consists of a watt meter II I having a'flxed scale 2 and a hand Ila indicating the gas lift in lbs. per gas cell. Owing to variation in temperature of the lifting gas and of the outside air, the actual liftis reduced. to the potential lift at zero differential temperature.

obtained by temperature-sensitive elements, for

instance, a series of thermo-couples ill mounted on the airship hull with one series of its junctions exposed to the temperature of the lifting gas and the other series to the outside air. Electric wires Ill connect the thermo-couples with a -voltmeter-like instrument H5, encased in the instrument llll, which actuates a pivoted segment H6 graduated at the bottom in per cent lifting power and on top in degrees Fahrenheit. A fixed arrow ll'l points at 0 on the segment 6 when there with the lift lndieator to indicate the potential cell. In addition, a sounding signal may be added,

which gives warning, as soon as the loss of gas is exceeding a certain limit. 1

The manometer 86, with one side connected by a tubing 81 to the lower'portion of the gas cell It, is open at 88 and communicates with the atmosphere tdindicate the pressure difference between the gas in the cell and the atmosphere or the value n. Another pressure-indicating manometer 89 communicates with its high-pressure side,,by a tubing 80, with a pressure transmitter ll, at the top of the gas cell H, and at its low-pressure side with the high-pressure side of the manometer 86, thus showing the pressure difference between the two gaslevels or the value pr-pz. Thus from these values the value he may be determined by the formula hz=hm/(pipz).

is no temperature difference between gas. and air. As soon as a temperature difierence exits, the segment swings out one way or the other, depending on whether the temperature in the gas cell is more or less than that of the air. Should there be a loss of gas in a gas cell, due to whatever cause, then the hand H3 will immediately indicate such loss on the bottom scale of H8. As soon as the loss reaches a certain percentage, then the hand US, which is electrically connected with the battery 95, will touch a contact I l8, adjustably mounted to the segment 8, and a'warning signal such as, the bell H9- will be sounded. The contact l It may then be set anew and in case of a gas leak the quantity of gas lost for a given time can be determined.

I do not wish to limit the scope of this invention to the particular types of instruments shown as examples nor to their 1 ations. Especially do I wish to "emphasize that the lower level manometer may be located below the free level as indicated on Figure 3, for instance. In this case the line leading to it from the cell must be fllled with gas drawn from the cell and it must be noncollapsible since it will carry less than atmospheric pressure. I also wish to point out thatof the rheostat sensitive to volume cancel outand the top cell manometer becomes a direct inf dicator of cell lift. For cells approximately vertlcally cylindrical, the top cell manometer may give a close approximation to the cell lift,

It is understood that the described function of the instrument is predicated upon the presence of a flabby or slack cell bottom. When the airship reaches pressure height-the cell becomes full. Upon further rise all gas vs. air manometers begin to show "overpressure above what they showed at pressure height. At such an over-- 'This result is pressure, when it exceeds a certain margin, the safety valves of the gas cells open and gas escapes. This is immediately indicated by the gas quantity indicator I 00, and the loss of lift is indicated by the cell lift indicator. However, these instruments will also respond when the gas escapes, not through valves but through leaks or accidental rips in the cells.

As a matter of terminology, I wish to explain that in the above description of my invention, I have used the word manometer to express a difierential pressure gauge which indicates the diflerence of two fluid or gas pressures. The term is to be understood as to be distinct from a sealed pressure gauge which measures absolute pressure, for instance, against vacuum such as a mercury barometer, or an aneroid. I wish to emphasize that the manometric devices forming part of my invention are of the type in which,

the movable diaphragm or liquid column is exposed to two different pressures on both sides, which difl'erence is only a small fraction of the absolute (barometric) prevailing both in the gas and in the air. A sealed pressure gauge, which is exposed only to the pressure of one gas, for instance, when installed completely within the gas container, would not properly respond to the influence of any variation of outside air pressures such as an airship encounters when rising or descending, or when the weather changes. Such a sealed absolute pressure gauge is not employed in this invention.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. The combination of an airship having at least one gas cell having a flexible bottom portion and adapted to hold a lifting gas, mechanism for indicating the vertical position of the flexible bottom of said cell with said cell containing gas, said mechanism comprising means for measuring the pressure diiference between two levels in said cell a known distance apart, means for measuring the pressure difierence at at least one of said levels between the gas inside said cell and the air outside said cell, and a ratio meter for combining the measurements of each of said last two mentfoned means and including means for indicating the combined result in terms of the level of the flexiblebottom portion of said cell.

2. In combination with an expansible gas container of a difierential manometer for measuring the pressure difference in said container at two diflerent known levels, comprising a gas-pressure transmitter at the upper known level of said container provided with a flexible diaphragm, a conduit leading to said manometer at one side thereof from said flexible .diaphragm and filled with air, a conduit communicating with the interior of said cell at the lower known level of said container and connected to the other side of said manometer, means to determine the inside-outside pressure at one level and a ratio meter having crossed coils, one of which is electrically connected to said manometer and the other of which pressure-determining means and actuated thereby, whereby to compare the relative values of they to indicate the lift of the gas contained in said as container.

3. A device as set forth in claim 2 in which said ratio meter and lift meter are connected by an energized electrical circuit containing a rheostat and in which-the ratio meter varies the resistance in the rheostat to determine the current flowing to said lift meter for actuating the same.

4. In combination with an expansible gas container of a differential manometer for measuring the pressure difference in said container at two different known levels, comprising a gas-pressure transmitter at the upper known level of said container provided with a flexible diaphragm, a conduit leading to said manometer at one'side thereof from said flexible diaphragm and filled with air, a conduit communicating with the interior of said cell at the lower known level of said container and connected to the other side of said manometer, means to determine the inside-outside pressure at one level, a ratio meter having crossed coils, one of which is electrically con-- nected to said manometer and the other of which is electrically connected to said inside-outside pressure-determining means and actuated there'- by, whereby to compare the relative values of the, inside-outside pressures at one level to the difference in pressures at the two levels, means actuated by said ratio meter and calibrated in conformity to the volume of the gas cell corresponding to the height of the gas level, a lift meter to which said last-mentioned means and said diflerentialmanometer are connected for coaction to indicate the lift of the gas contained in said gas container, a temperature meter responsive to the difference in temperature between the gas inside said container and the air outside said container, and an adding and subtracting mechanism actuated by said'temperature meter coacting with said lift-indicating meter to add to or subtract from the indicated lift of the gas an amount sutllcient to cause the lift-indicating meter to indicate the lift under zero temperature diflferential.

5. In combination, an airship comprising an expansible gas cell, means responsive to the pressure of the gas within said cell at at least two vertically spaced points a known distance apart therein, means responsive to the inside-outside pressure at at least one of said points to measure the pressure difie'rence, and ratio means-responsive to each of said two mentioned means for determining and indicating the actual lift of the gas within said cell, and means responsive to the temperature difference between the gas inside said cell and the atmosphere outside said cell for actuating said indicating means proportionally to the difference in inside-outside temperature to is electrically connected to said inside-outside indicating the lifting pull of the gas at zero temperature difierence.

6. The method of measuring the position of the free gas level within a flexible cell having a loose, freely movable flexible bottom part which comprises the steps of measuring the pressure difierence of the gas at two levels in said cell 'a known distance apart, measuring the pressure difference at at least one of said levels between the gas in said cell and the air outside said cell, and deter mining the free gas level in accordance with the equation h2=hpz/(p1pa) wherein ha=height of free gas level below p: measuring point, h= height between 111 and m. m=diiferentia1 pressure between gas inside and air outside of cell at upper measuring point, and pz =diilerential pressure between gas inside and air outside of cell at lower measuring point.

named level, a rheostat control means actuated 7. The combination with an expansible gas container of means for measuring the dlflerential pressure between the outside air and the contained gas at one level in the container, means for measuring the difference in pressure of the gas at the first level and the gas at another level in the container a known distance from the firstby each pressure measuring means, and cross coil ratio meter means connected with the rheostat control means for indicating a physical charac- 5 teristic of the gas in the container.

WOLFGANG B. KLEWERER. 

